Good vs. Evil in Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser Essays

Good vs. Evil in Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser Good versus evil is one of the most commonly used themes in literature. Edmund Spenser’s â€Å"Faerie Queene† is no exception to this theme. The story consists of a knight who must save the day and win the hand of his true love. This plot in itself is really common in story plots. The â€Å"Faerie Queene,† however, adds a little life to this old tradition. Allegory is placed in this story and really makes up the theme and brings it to life. Allegory is a literary device where a metaphor is extended throughout the narrative and the characters in the story symbolize a type of virtue. The â€Å"Faerie Queene† is full of allegory, as a matter of fact; every character symbolizes some type of virtue or†¦show more content†¦At the time, Protestantism was basically a mix of the two old churches and wasn’t hoarded over by a pope. This historical event is what is depicted in the story, showing how the new church is better and able to beat out the evil ways of the Catholics. Now Redcrosse’s goal is to save Una’s parents and Una is his one true love. The parents represent the old church and were captured by a dragon, which is the Catholic Church, and held captive. Una is the virtue of truth and is the renewed, better version of the old church. She is Redcrosse’s one true love because without grace and truth, then holiness cannot succeed. Redcrosse begins his many adventures in a cave where he comes in contact with Error, a half-woman/half snake creature. As Redcrosse fights the evil creature, holiness is actually fighting against the Roman Catholic propaganda that was put out against Queen Elizabeth and the Anglicans. This is understood to us when Redcrosse is choking Error and â€Å"her vomit full of books and papers†¦Ã¢â‚¬  came spewing forth from her. Redcrosse beats out the evil, barely escaping with his life because he did not listen to truth or Una. This type of occurrence happens throughout the entire story where Re dcrosse faces some type of evil creature and barely escapes because of not listening to the truth and trusting too much in himself and others. Redcrosse faces many foes in his adventures. Most of them occur with two evil characters that useShow MoreRelated Dragons in Beowulf and in Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene1982 Words   |  8 PagesDragons in Beowulf and in Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene When one usually thinks of a dragon, one thinks of dragon-slayers, adventure, damsels in distress, and cheap fantasy novels. Dragons in literature have not always been used for such meaningless entertainment. There are many precedents for dragons in medieval literature, two of the most prominent being in the Old English poem Beowulf and in Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. In both of these epic poems, dragons play